Environmental Health and Safety

The term RICE MACT refers to the National Emission Standards for Stationary Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines (RICE), codified at 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart ZZZZ. The RICE MACT rules apply to any piece of equipment driven by a stationary RICE located at a major source or area source of hazardous air pollutants (HAP).

For decades, oceanographers have collected water samples from the surface of the ocean in order to record how much plastic debris currently litters the waters. But a new study asserts that surface collection alone is insufficient because high winds have a tremendous impact on the buoyancy of the plastic debris.

Since municipalities pay for trash disposal, usually by the ton, researchers say big savings could result from reducing volume of trash, along with the cost of hauling it and paying tipping fees for disposal, in addition to improving the environment.

In cities, the presence of algae, lichens, and mosses is not considered desirable and they are often removed from roofs and walls. It is, however, totally unfair to consider these cryptogamic covers, as the flat growths are referred to in scientific terms, just a nuisance.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Jim Martin presented the Mayors of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County and Ogden City with $1.3 million in grant awards to advance the assessment, cleanup and redevelopment of properties.

According to a new study, children exposed to high levels of the common air pollutant naphthalene are at increased risk for chromosomal aberrations (CAs), which have been previously associated with cancer. These include chromosomal translocations, a potentially more harmful and long-lasting subtype of CAs.

Researchers at the University of York headed a major international review aimed at enhancing efforts to better understand the impacts of chemicals used in pharmaceuticals or in personal care products, such as cosmetics, soaps, perfumes, deodorants and toothpastes (PPCPs), on the natural environment.

A college professor and a ecotoxicologist have teamed up to write a paper suggesting that a public discourse on birth control chemicals be held before public officials decide whether to dedicate funds to cleaning such drugs from wastewater, or not.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is giving out $69.3 million grants for new investments to provide communities with funding necessary to clean and redevelop contaminated properties, boost local economies and create jobs while protecting public health.

Several politicians and officials from the Environmental Protection Agency met up on the shore of the Hudson River to discuss the progress of the federal Superfund cleanup on the Hudson River and the efforts to restore properties along its shorelines.

The link between prenatal exposure to air pollution and childhood lung growth and respiratory ailments has been established by several studies in recent years, and now a new study suggests that these prenatal exposures can be especially serious for children with asthma.